Friday, February 20, 2009

Poet Kenn Nesbitt is celebrating his birthday today, as well as the imminent release of what is sure to be a hit, My Hippo Has the Hiccups, a new poetry book-plus-audio-CD produced by Sourcebooks. This Silverstein-Prelutsky-influenced collection of 120 poems caters to kids’ voracious appetites for humorous story poems, with plenty of silly pet poems, fairy tale parodies (another Cinderella poem for my collection!), and funny school poems, many topics with strong kid appeal. Nesbitt relies heavily on formulaic rhyming quatrains that kids will quickly chime in on—especially after listening to the CD performed by Nesbitt himself.

Once again, the audio is one of my favorite components and I’m so glad to see Sourcebooks continue to offer poetry for kids in audio form. Nesbitt is a strong performer of his own works, with a strong, clear delivery and pacing that is just right for the poem and the audience. The pause between tracks is also helpful for listeners and Nesbitt manages to make each track distinctive, using a variety of voicing and sound effects. Even without the text in front of her/him, the young reader can easily follow the poem—and that’s not as easy as it sounds.

There are 39 (out of the 120) poems available on the CD including most of the best of the collection, IMO, like “I Played a Game” which begs for kid pantomime or movement to accompany the audio, “(I’m Always in Parentheses)” which actually gives voice to the ignoble parentheses, and “Pet Shopping” with a lively backdrop of animal noises, to name a few. Kids will surely want to plug the CD in the car and join in—and I think the CD will hold up to repeated listening.

My favorite poems are probably those that diverge from the ever-present rhyming pattern (like the list format of “The Contents of My Desk” below) or incorporate clever wordplay (like “Anna Graham” = anagram) or punctuation-play (like “Hap-the-Happy-Hyphenator”). I hope Nesbitt will venture further into this inventive territory in the future.

[Wouldn’t it be fun to gather a few of these objects mentioned in the poem and put them in a box, set the box on a table in front of the kids, and then take each object out as you refer to it in reading the poem aloud? Poem props! Or challenge kids to create a comic strip or storyboard, with a drawing for each line of the poem, using each line as a caption or speech bubble.]

My Hippo Has the Hiccups is illustrated with black and white cartoon sketches by artist and animator Ethan Long. They have just the right touch of zany looseness to suit the poems and engage kid readers—and aspiring cartoonists.

Kenn Nesbitt’s web site, Poetry4Kids is one of the most popular and visited sites for kids on poetry, offering a multitude of resources and opportunities for kids to interact. He clearly has a heart for kids and their funny bones. He writes, “I know it always makes me feel good when I read a funny poem or hear a funny song. So, in my own small way, I'm trying to do my part to help people laugh, and just maybe make the world a happier place.” Happy birthday to YOU, Kenn. Thanks for hiccupping hippos!

P.S. Congratulations, Sourcebooks: The 40th NAACP Image Awards were given out last week and Hip Hop Speaks to Children, edited by Nikki Giovanni (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky) won for Outstanding Literary Work—Poetry, the first time that a book for CHILDREN has won in this category. Congrats, Nikki and Sourcebooks! (I blogged about this anthology last Nov. 4. Love that audio, too!)

Thursday, February 12, 2009

I have exciting news to share—another award announcement, but this time it’s a POETRY award! The Pennsylvania Center for the Book, the University Libraries, and the Pennsylvania School Librarians' Association are pleased to announce the winner of the 2009 LEE BENNETT HOPKINS POETRY AWARD as well as the honor award winners.

This year celebrates the l5th Anniversary of the Award...the first of its kind for poetry in the history of children's literature. The Award comes with a $1,000 cash gift from Mr. Hopkins.

Congratulations to each of these wonderful poets! And in honor of Valentine’s Day, here’s another gem from Diamond Willow, a LOVE poem…

Diamond Willow was one of my favorite books of the year and I wrote about it previously on May 16, and a week later, May 23, I reviewed The Surrender Tree, another favorite. I didn’t get Stitchin’ and Pullin’ til late in the year, thus a sad omission on my part because it's also a wonderful book.]

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

When the big ALA book awards are announced, I like to check them for the inclusion of poetry. Last year, there was a jackpot of poetry. This year—not so much. However, there were some notable standouts. First, the Coretta Scott King award choices were especially exciting this year. Did you notice that nearly all these books were POETRY? I was so tickled about that!

THE Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award (outstanding illustrations by an African American artist) went to:*The Blacker the Berry illustrated by Floyd Cooper. Written by Joyce Carol Thomas. Amistad/HarperCollins, 2008.

And one CSK Illustrator Honor distinction went to a book by poet Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Sean Qualls, Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane. Henry Holt, 2008.

In addition, the Pura Belpré Author Award (cosponsored by REFORMA) (outstanding writing by a Latino author) went to The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle. Henry Holt, 2008, which was also a NEWBERY HONOR BOOK! Did you catch that? Newbery!

ALL of these books (listed above) are also on the list of 2009 Notables selected by ALSC and/or the YALSA list of Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA).

What do you notice about this? MULTICULTURAL POETRY is really getting some attention. In fact, some of the best of the best books of any genre, and of poetry in particular, are by poets of color! Very exciting!

About Me

Sylvia Vardell is a professor and author of the ALA bestseller POETRY ALOUD HERE, also POETRY PEOPLE, CHILDREN'S LITERATURE IN ACTION, and the co-editor of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY series (for K-5 and for 6-8), as well as the first digital anthologies of poetry for young people, the POETRY TAG TIME series-- all in collaboration with poet Janet Wong. Vardell is also the poetry columnist for ALA’s BOOK LINKS magazine. A frequent speaker at conferences, Vardell chaired the NCTE Poetry Award committee and has served as a consultant to the Poetry Foundation.